Chapter 70
Seventy
I’m weightless. Limbs flailing, the rush of wind in my ears, and the cool breeze on my face overwhelm my senses.
I land in a heap, my body rolling and bones aching from the impact.
Much like the first challenge, the darkened maze is eerily quiet.
Halls leading to antechambers or other pathways seem to stem in every direction, and I’m paralyzed by my indecision about which way to go.
Heeding Orion’s advice, I proceed slowly, taking in my surroundings as I go.
I choose the hall on the left. My boots take one step in front of the other while my heart hammers in my chest. The unexpected fall has unnerved me, and I wouldn’t put it past the Kosmos to have more surprises planned for us.
I enter a room with a rounded shape and an elongated pedestal set in the center.
Resting on the pedestal is a prismatic crystal.
Light shines from an opening in the ceiling above, casting reflections of every color of the rainbow around the room.
The room is captivating; it’s as if every ounce of pure magic in the universe hangs still within these walls.
Knowing I need to disrupt the breathtaking scene, I pass through the rays of light and approach the pedestal.
Forehead crinkling, I take in the crystal.
Broken into four pieces, each shard has divots and ragged notches.
The crystal has been turned into a puzzle.
I cautiously grasp the piece closest to me, but when I go to move the delicate piece, it will not budge.
Instead of grasping, I try pushing, but the piece still refuses to move.
Trying the next piece, I run into the same problem.
How am I supposed to put the puzzle pieces together when they don’t move?
When I touch the third, it slides forward and backward but does not release from the pedestal.
Examining the fourth, it is also stuck in place.
It clearly belongs on top of the first piece I tried; the outlines line up perfectly.
What am I supposed to do? They are stuck in a row that only allows the pieces to move up and down, where the only moving piece is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
I circle the room looking for anything that could help me.
There is nothing in this room, save for the circles of light the prism reflects.
Four reflections are hitting the walls surrounding me…
and there are four pieces that need to be arranged.
Approaching the first reflection on the wall to my left, I squint my eyes as I inspect the circle further.
Barely, almost unnoticeably, the circle of light blurs against the wall in small waves.
The movement causes the rock to appear insubstantial, as if the wall itself is an illusion.
Excitement hums throughout me as I tentatively reach out, only for my body to be sucked through a whirling vortex.
Everything spins violently around me in a whirring storm.
The sensation lasts only seconds before my body has righted itself and I am standing, evidently in the same spot, staring at the magical spotlight in front of me.
What was that? The other walls are a dull brown, the darkened rock making the room feel smaller.
The walls are dark—the light beams that were on them have disappeared.
My eyes instantly flick to the prism at the core of the room.
To my surprise, I see that the pieces have shifted.
The bottom piece no longer sits in line with the remaining parts of the crystal but in a row on the right side.
My head bounces from the pedestal to the single beam of light on the wall and back as my mind reels, trying to make sense of what happened.
I walk back to the light, touching the distortion once more.
After the spinning sensation fades, I find myself back with the pieces as I initially found them.
Holy shit, the beams produce a portal. A portal, if I’m not mistaken, that transports me to other planes of time.
I touch the wall again, praying I get through this puzzle without vomiting and get to work.
After entering the first portal, I move to grab the fourth piece of crystal but find that it remains stuck in place.
However, the second and third pieces slide with ease.
I slide the third piece down and attempt to move it to the right, but the piece remains stuck.
It slides to the left with ease, and I repeat the movement with the second piece.
The puzzle is now broken up into three rows.
Piece three is on top of the second in the first row.
Piece one remains untouched in the second row, and the fourth piece sits solely in the third row.
I need to get the fourth piece on top of the first—time to test out the other portals.
After traveling through two portals that did not allow me to move the fourth piece, I entered the portal to the right of the doorway, confident that this portal would allow me access.
To my delight, the fourth piece slides upward and to the left, clicking into place as it connects to the first piece. Yes! On to the rest.
I jump through time and portals, figuring out exactly which pieces move in which portal.
It’s time-consuming and requires all of my mental strength and focus, but slowly two more pieces align with the crystal.
I slide the last piece until it’s lined up where it needs to be, and the edges seal.
The crystal flashes a brilliant white light, and I shield my eyes until the brightness dims, finding a new portal sitting opposite me.
I enter triumphantly, knowing that the first portion of this game has been completed. Hopefully, what awaits me on the other side can be achieved just as easily.